Rep. can use campaign cash for fees

Federal Election Commission lawyers have tentatively approved Rep. Pete Visclosky request to use his campaign funds to pay legal bills stemming from a Justice Department probe into the Indiana Democrat's ties with the now defunct PMA Group.

FEC commissioners will formally vote on Visclosky’s request at an upcoming meeting.

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A federal grand jury has subpoenaed Visclosky and his now former chief of staff, Charles Brimmer, for documents related to PMA. Brimmer has since retired from Visclosky’s staff.

The Justice Department is investigating PMA over allegations that the firm and its founder, former House Appropriations Committee aide Paul Maggliocchetti, used “straw man” donors to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to lawmakers, including Visclosky.

PMA’s offices were raided by FBI agents in November, and the once highly successful firm has now gone out of business.

Since he received the subpoena, Visclosky has recused himself from overseeing the $30 billion-plus energy and water spending bill.

The House ethics committee also announced on Thursday night that it has begun an investigation into lawmakers’ ties to PMA.

On March 31, Visclosky asked the FEC whether he could use campaign funds to pay his legal bills. Such requests are made routinely by lawmakers facing investigation.

“The allegations concern Representative Visclosky's campaign and duties as a Federal officeholder because Representative Visclosky allegedly received the contributions in question as part of his campaign, and his alleged actions regarding the congressional appropriations process are directly related to his duties as a Federal officeholder,” FEC lawyers wrote in a draft “advisory opinion” released today.

“Therefore, based on the representations made in the advisory opinion request and accompanying news articles, the Commission concludes that the legal fees and expenses associated with the Federal investigation would not exist irrespective of Representative Visclosky's campaign or duties as a Federal officeholder.”

Visclosky has more than $909,000 in cash in his campaign account, as of his March 31 filing with the FEC.